Record Cleaning Machine Fluid

Can cleaning fluids permanently alter the sonic qualities
of vinyl? which ones cause more 'damage' which ones cause
the least 'damage' to a record

Geo_info, Disc Doctor, Audio Intelligent, Walker Audio Prelude... all have consistently good reports from Audiogon members for doing no damage, cleaning well, and leaving no residue after a distilled water rinse. Products like Gruve Glide leave a surface coating, and that is always something that should give one pause.

depends on the formulation, but typical cleaning fluids for vinyl are not harmful. Some strong solvents can actually dissolve or soften vinyl and should never be used. Toluene, benzene etc are examples of solvents i would stay away from. The commercially available cleaning fluids typically are water combined with trace chemicals that have surfactant or dispersant properties and sometimes alcohol to aid in drying. None of these typicaly will hurt vinyl

I've never heard of any commercially marketed record cleaning fluid actually damaging a vinyl LP. (Alcohol will damage many 78's, but that's another story.)

Playing uncleaned records can damage them and has done so in my own experience; and once damaged there's no way to repair them.

So the better question is: which cleaning fluids work best within the time you're willing to spend?

It seems that this particular thread has run many months, yet in this thread I don't see any specific mention that as I understand it, AIVS products underwent a complete "overhaul" of its products, and any previously noted issues have been totally corrected.

I now myself use the AIVS products by a very high recommendation-endorsment from one of our own members here.

Although the four step process is a procedure that perhaps some may not wish to undertake, I myself see it as a minor inconvenience knowing that my LPs cannot be gotten any cleaner, and left with no remaining residues, period.

After the multitudes of $1,000's of dollars spent on my Cartridges, Turntables, Cables, Pre-Amps, etc, etc, my take is that these extra steps insure that these components can take the best advantage of what pristine clean records can offer. The addition of a couple of extra cleaning-rinsing steps I see as plus, versus a one, or two step.

Apparently AIVS has gotten it's act together big time, resolved all past discrepancies-issues and the four step process I use makes perfectly logical sense. I am very satsfied with the results I am now getting from using them.

All no doubt will agree, a one step process cannot properly do everything that is required of it.